"Climate Change is a hoax. More people are dying from bad climate change policies than actual climate change. Period. DRILL, FRACK, BURN COAL", declares erstwhile Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Meanwhile Greta Thunberg's "How Dare You?" speech at the UN trends on X (Twitter), nearing its fourth anniversary.

Climate Change Policies on a Cliffhanger

Humans, the most intelligent species to have walked on the Earth, have finally managed to discover a bone of contention even in the 'Question of Survival'. Scientists continue to watch helplessly from the sidelines as the debate on environmental causes gets increasingly hijacked by the LEFT and the RIGHT, each of whom is least interested in finding a solution. The irony is that the debate is centred on whether the 'issue even exists, or is a man-made cult', as proposed by Mr Donald Trump.

The RIGHT blatantly refuses to acknowledge the existence of a climate crisis, terming the entire matter 'a communist made-up narrative'. Then they manufacture weird logic (perhaps in their coal-run industries) to explain their rationale. Some don the geologist hat to attribute the global warming to Earth's tilted axis, periodic oscillation in climate and whatnot.

The WOKE gang on the other hand, like always, remains a firm believer in 'what you must do to improve the world is to: complain and protest'. Their actions pretty much remain centred around throwing soup at the Mona Lisa and other Vinci artworks (must have been a conservative), chaining themselves to poles near protest sites, disrupting COPs and other summits only to be escorted out following rounds of applause, spraying paint on museum articles, organizing slogan shouting events and the list goes on… But Alas! Only if such activism-obsessive ploys actually made a difference.

Time's Running Out

As Homo sapiens continue to debate whether climate change must be included in the High School syllabus or not, Doom's Day Clock goes on ticking and approaching the apparent destination. Most of the section of academia has even ceased mentioning limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees till the turn of the century. They think 1.8 degrees is a more achievable goal now.

Glaciers have been melting at an alarming rate lately. If frequent forest fires in Indian, American and Sumatran woods, seasonal extremities, mass extinction of species, degrading quality of breathing air, sky-rocketing occurrence of draughts, and piling up of plastics in oceans isn't waking us up, only AI knows what will! Perhaps very soon, a 2.5-degree rise will also appear to be a mirage.

Geopolitical Blame Game

Pretty much like every other cause, Climate Change has also fallen prey to diplomatic 'snake and ladder'. As Developed Nations seek to shrug off their bleak historical track record on emissions, developing countries cite economic parity and poverty in their defence. Countries of the Global North play a source to much of the carbon emissions present in planetary sinks. Not at all surprising is the data on per capita carbon emission and country-wise Earth Overshoot Data which trace a similar sorry curve. For instance, the per capita emission for UAE in 2022 was 21.75 tons, US 14.44, China at 8.85 and India at 1.91 while the global average stood at 4.84.

A country’s overshoot day is the date on which Earth Overshoot Day would fall if all of humanity consumed like the people in that country. It is 14th March if each one of us lives 'the American Dream' and June 1 for China. For India? Bingo, Error 404! We don't even have an Overshoot Day, that means we aren't even using the resources designated for one year within the time span.

Bharat setting Thresholds

As the serious question of 'which artwork and summit to target next' looms over, it is a low-middle income country from South-East Asia which is showing the way forward.

For starters, India isn't responsible for much of the 'anti-green mess' we have to deal with today, as pointed out by data on historic emissions. We are among the world's most unfairly impacted nations, bearing the wrath of Mother Earth without having caused much of agony. Or perhaps this is how it is, life is not always fair, is it? Pacific island nations are even greater sufferers, living on the brink of submergence while also being the source of colonial loot and plunder which fueled the Industrial Revolution in the countries of the 'Free World'.

India stands at 8th rank in the Climate Change Performance Index in 2024, ahead of almost all major polluters. We are the world's 4th largest consumer of electricity and the world's 3rd largest renewable energy producer with 40% of energy capacity installed in the year 2022 (160 GW of 400 GW) coming from renewable sources. In 2020, 3 of the world's top 5 largest solar parks were in India including the world's largest 2255 MW Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan and the world's second-largest solar park of 2000 MW Pavgada Solar Park Tumkur in Karnataka. India is also among the four major economies on track to meet their Paris Agreement Goal by 2023, besides Indonesia, Switzerland and the UK.

While addressing UN COP26 at Glasgow, the Prime Minister of India listed five commitments of Bharat to combat Climate Change. The five-fold strategy is called the 'Panchamrita' and the five points that aim to achieve success are:

1. India will get its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030.
2. India will meet 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030.
3. India will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tons from now onwards till 2030.
4. By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by less than 45 per cent.
5. By the year 2070, India will achieve the target of Net Zero.

It's the Lifestyle, Stupid!

While the nation continues to punch above its weight in aiding the warfare against planetary warming, expressing the progress of Bharat only in terms of numbers and percentages would be a grave injustice. What's the reason behind the abysmally low per capita carbon emission of a fairly educated nation? Life's secret sauce? It's the lifestyle.

While Europe and America chose to tread the path of a hedonistic lifestyle, India walked the talk on minimalism. Reusing and Recycling have been a part and parcel of an average middle-class household's life. A significant portion of the Indian population follows a vegetarian diet, which has a lower environmental impact compared to meat-based diets.

Two-thirds of the Indian population is rural. A unit rural household is perhaps the best available model of sustainability and self-sufficiency coupled with almost zero waste generation. The agri-driven ecosystem provides for the consumption of not only the family but masses across the borders. Bio-waste generated from the kitchen gets amalgamated with cattle fodder while cattle waste gets transformed into cooking fuel or compost. Traditional methods of rainwater harvesting, such as step-wells and rooftop collection, are still in use in many parts of India. Moreover, the socially alloyed lifestyle of the countryside does not mandate consumption-driven commercial centers of nightlife. Foot-walk is the most popular means of transport. ACs absent. With farmers resorting to pisciculture, apiculture and sericulture; there is absolutely no space left for woke culture, which in itself is an oxymoron (woke is antithesis to culture).

Even ancient Indian texts deplore the centrality of humans and endorse the paramountcy of nature; the human body is said to be made up of 'Panch-tatva' which disintegrate back to nature at death. Animals have been glorified as deities and Earth as mothers. Maha Upanishad gave birth to 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'. Of course, there is a scientific reason behind throwing copper coins in rivers.

The best Time to act was 50 years ago; Second Best Time is Today!

The human race today stands on the cusp of imminent downfall if immediate measures are not employed in the direction of mitigation of environmental crisis. Giving in just 'Fridays For Future' won't help nor will throwing paint at Mona Lisa. It has always been about lifestyle; let's hope the globe gets it.

We as a community, can no longer afford to debate whether to put Climate Change in election manifestos or not. Let us Embrace the Mission LiFE (Lifestyle For Environment) and take concrete steps in this regard. When Climate Change is threatening to submerge the homes of 250 million of our fellow beings by 2100, woke activism is the last thing we should resort to now. Believe me, rolling the dice heedlessly to see what happens next will only lead to humans swimming to their offices by 2050!

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